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The National Liberation War of Macedonia (Народноослободителна Борба на Македонија (НОБ), transliterated Narodnoosloboditelna Borba na Makedonija, NOB; Croatian, Makedonski Narodnooslobodilački Rat, NOB) was a political and military campaign, part of World War II, carried out by mainly Macedonian Partisans of the People's Liberation Army of Macedonia (part of the Yugoslav Partisan movement) from 11 October 1941 until the end of 1944 when Yugoslavia was reestablished. The operation was a regional conflict of the greater Yugoslav People's Liberation War but combatants also developed further aspirations over the geographic region of Macedonia.

Following the end of the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913, the Treaty of Bucharest divided the region of Macedonia amongst the Kingdom of Greece, the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Serbia. The territory was up until that time part of the Ottoman empire.

From 1912 until 1941 the territory of Vardar Macedonia remained within the territory of Yugoslavia. During that period, there were two main autonomist agendas. The right-wing Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) led by Ivan Mihailov, was in favor of the creation of a pro-Bulgarian Macedonian state under German and Italian protection.

The leftist IMRO (United) group, who merged with the communists prior to the beginning of the war, favored creation of an independent "Soviet Macedonia" within a Balkan Federation. This option was supported by Pavel Shatev, Dimitar Vlahov, Metodi Shatorov, Panko Brashnarov, and others. (Read more...)